The Perfect Solo Canoe

[Chief Grey Bear]

I have to both agree and disagree Al. Sort of.

All canoe designs are compromises between different characteristics. The longer and narrower the canoe is the faster and straighter it will paddle. The rounder the bottom is, the faster it will be. But longer, narrower, and rounder on the bottom means the initial stability will suffer. The straighter the bottom is when looked at in profile from front to back, the faster and straighter it will paddle, but if you need maneuverability the bottom must have rocker (turned up ends). All this is why "cruising" and "touring" canoes are long, narrow, no rocker, and whitewater canoes are short, wide, and plenty of rocker.

If you were to float in an indoor Olympic sized pool, then yes I would agree with this 100%. But there are 3 factors in the real world that change this. First is wind. It doesn't matter what type of tracking you have, wind is not your friend. It seems like even the slightest breeze will always start just after you make your perfect cast and start to turn you just enough to make you want to spit nails!

Current would be next. Current can either help you or hurt you depending on other factors. It can make steering easier or almost impossible depending on where you are wanting to go. And like your friend the wind, it doesn't matter how good of a tracking canoe you have, it will take you where it wants to, unless you are constantly correcting. Just a slight adjustment here and there. We all do it one handed as we are fishing. Unless you are fishing one of those ditch channels in the bootheel. I guess, I have never fished one.

Then we have probably one of the most over looked and possibly one of the most important asspects, weight distribution. There are two types of weight distrubution. First is side to side. It is very important to keep your weight evenly applied from the left to the right. If one side is heavier, you will have a constant "lean" that will cause any canoe to drift towards heavier side. You will constantly be compensating for this in one of two ways. Either you will be leaning the oppisite direction all day or you will be fishing one handed. Because your paddle will alway be in the other one.

Next is front to back weight. It is very important to keep both end of the canoe down in the water. If you are lite in the front, not only will you be catching a lot of wind and spinning like a top, your back end will be catching more current and thus also spinning you. The only advantage, if you can call it that, would be that steering will be a breeze. But that is all you will be doing and you want to be fishing.

That is just my thoughts on the subject.

No doubt wind can be more of a factor with the higher sides and ends of a canoe. Everything is a compromise, including the lower profile of a kayak, versus the many advantages of a canoe. We've hashed the canoe/kayak debate many times. Personally I like the much greater and more convenient stowage options of the canoe enough to put up with some wind issues now and then.

I am with you 100% on this.

[Al Agnew]

I have to both agree and disagree Al. Sort of.

If you were to float in an indoor Olympic sized pool, then yes I would agree with this 100%. But there are 3 factors in the real world that change this. First is wind. It doesn't matter what type of tracking you have, wind is not your friend. It seems like even the slightest breeze will always start just after you make your perfect cast and start to turn you just enough to make you want to spit nails!

Current would be next. Current can either help you or hurt you depending on other factors. It can make steering easier or almost impossible depending on where you are wanting to go. And like your friend the wind, it doesn't matter how good of a tracking canoe you have, it will take you where it wants to, unless you are constantly correcting. Just a slight adjustment here and there. We all do it one handed as we are fishing. Unless you are fishing one of those ditch channels in the bootheel. I guess, I have never fished one.

Then we have probably one of the most over looked and possibly one of the most important asspects, weight distribution. There are two types of weight distrubution. First is side to side. It is very important to keep your weight evenly applied from the left to the right. If one side is heavier, you will have a constant "lean" that will cause any canoe to drift towards heavier side. You will constantly be compensating for this in one of two ways. Either you will be leaning the oppisite direction all day or you will be fishing one handed. Because your paddle will alway be in the other one.

Next is front to back weight. It is very important to keep both end of the canoe down in the water. If you are lite in the front, not only will you be catching a lot of wind and spinning like a top, your back end will be catching more current and thus also spinning you. The only advantage, if you can call it that, would be that steering will be a breeze. But that is all you will be doing and you want to be fishing.

That is just my thoughts on the subject.

Chief, I agree with you. Wind and current always have major effects on a canoe. But the hull design still makes a big difference in how wind and current affect it.

Most beginning (and many experienced) canoe anglers want a craft that has as much initial stability as possible. We've all seen the canoes out there that are marketed as "angler" or "sportsman" canoes, and they are all very wide and short. The wider the canoe is compared to its length, the more stable it "feels". In other words, it doesn't feel tippy. And it is true that it is a little less easy to actually get one up on its side. But under some situations, such canoes are even more affected by wind, and less affected by current, than the longer, narrower, canoes.

Picture the far end of "long, narrow, and no rocker" (let's call it LN for long and narrow) versus "short, wide, and plenty of rocker" (call it SW for short and wide)...a long, straight, narrow board floating on the water versus a round bowl floating on the water. Take your finger and push on one end of the long board. It doesn't want to turn. Now push on the edge of the bowl, and it spins very easily. Wind hitting a canoe at any kind of angle will make the SW canoe turn a lot quicker than the LN canoe. Even wind that hits the SW canoe directly from the side will push it sideways a lot easier than it will the LN canoe. Now that's in a canoe sitting still, or floating at the same speed as the current. If you are paddling faster than the current, it makes the effects of any quartering head wind much more significant. Basically, the same characteristics of a LN canoe that make it resist turning with your paddle stroke will make it resist turning with the wind. So as long as the ends are not very high, the LN canoe will be "better" in the wind.

Now, current..any current hitting the craft at an angle affects the SW canoe less than the LN one, but any current hitting the SW one head on, or directly from the rear, affects it more than the LN one. There are good points and bad points to that. If you are paddling a lot faster than slow current, like in long pools, or if you are paddling against the current, the LN canoe will go faster and stay straighter, but once you let it drift off to where the current is hitting the front end at an angle, it wants to keep veering that way and is difficult to get back on track. The SW canoe is slower and wants to turn with each power stroke, but even if it does turn it's easy to get back in line.

We all know about maneuvering through twisty rapids lined with logs or rocks...the SW canoe will be a lot easier to work through such places.

But the LN canoe has a couple of practical advantages for the angler in current. For one thing, it's easier to slow and stop in current, and once you get it slowed or stopped, it stays that way longer...as long as it is kept parallel to the current. The other thing is that it is much more efficient when ferrying. Put it at an angle to the current and backpaddle, and it stays at the angle you want and the current pushes it sideways the way you want it to go a lot better.

One other thing about maneuvering long, narrow canoes...a lot of experienced paddlers like to kneel. This is not all that practical for anglers except in working through rapids that require serious maneuvering, so few anglers ever kneel in the canoe. But kneeling not only gets your center of gravity lower and makes the canoe less tippy, it allows you to lean under control. Lean a LN canoe over to one side so that the ends come up, and it becomes an SW canoe as far as the part of it that's below the waterline. I've done this a few times...you can make it turn a lot easier.

Overall, on most Ozark streams with their occasional long, dead pools and easy, straightforward riffles, and with their typical trouble spots being sweeper downed trees on the outside of fast water bends, a compromise that leans a bit toward the long, narrow, no rocker touring or cruising canoe actually makes more sense if you are a paddler with decent balance and good technique. It gets you through the dead water more easily, it's easier to stop in straight current areas to fish, it ferries easier to avoid the sweepers, and the wind doesn't blow it around in circles quite as badly. But if the streams you fish are mostly small, narrow, twisty, and brushy, or if you do a lot of fishing on some of the Arkansas "whitewater" streams like the Mulberry, Big Piney, upper Kings, and upper Buffalo, the shorter, wider, more rocker canoe is probably your best choice. Again...compromise is the name of the game. You don't want a canoe out on either radical end. But any canoe that starts out in the middle and leans a bit toward one side or the other will be serviceable all over the Ozarks.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Let me crawdad here a little Al. I shouldn't have said I disgree, I should have said, "Let me add..."

I didn't mean to insuate that your info was incorrect. As I was reading your post, I kept thinking to myself about this and that and the other. It was a poor choice of words on my part. Just wanted anyone new to getting a canoe also think about those factors as well.

Does that make any sense????

[Wayne SW/MO]

I might add a couple of things, one being that a solo's length does hamper some design characteristics limiting some desirable traits. You also have to take in the design of the hull above the projected waterline. When any canoe is leaned tumblehome and how it is designed into the hull becomes just as important as the paper stats.

[Al Agnew]

No problem, Chief, I understood what you were saying. Wayne, good point, which is why I always want a canoe with straight sides and no tumblehome (just to remind everybody, "tumblehome" means that the sides curve inward as they go upward to the top, meaning the gunwale width is narrower than the waterline width.)

Also, Chief's words about weight distribution are very important. I've floated with a couple of guys who didn't seem to understand that you have to keep your own weight centered. If the canoe is leaning a bit to one side, the handling goes out the window. When floating with those guys, I was continually having to lean my weight to the other side to balance them out.

And, normally you'd want the weight centered front to back, with neither end higher. But on windy days, it's nice to have the heavier, lower end of the canoe facing into the wind. Of course, on Ozark streams that may wind in every direction of the compass and with winds that swirl and change direction, this isn't always practical. But on days when the wind is pretty steadily blowing either upstream or downstream, I'll adjust weight accordingly. If you have a headwind, having the back end of the canoe a little higher keeps the canoe straighter against the wind. If you have a tailwind, you want the back end heavier and lower.

[Chief Grey Bear]

One more thing I failed to mention. Certain baits, mostly deep diver cranks and bigger spinnerbaits can throw off your tracking. Most notably when used by the front passenger in calmer waters.

[Njardar]

Woodman brings up a good point, try several models and see which suits you best. Discussions on side height, length, tumble home, etc. are helpful but can be esoteric if you can't experience the differences.

Charlie

[woodman]

On my last big build the 16x36 I plan on adding a retractable foot steerable rudder to aid in fishing the small lakes..a lot of times I can angle the bow toward the shore and the breeze can push me along at that angle almost like having a trolling motor. I think a rudder would be a benefit in the wind, it could be used to slow you down also..

[stinger160]

Wow, a little overwhelming. I met with woodman today. I'm interested in one of his builds that is a modified pirogue, slight angle to bottom rather than flat, with angled top to make it easier to paddle. 16 foot long, 31 inches wide. Great stability per reviews, good handling. With two or three foot decks on bow and stern, you can use rod holders that allow you to protect the tips, and have storage as well as foam blocking for flotation. Anyone with experience with pirogues?

[David Unnerstall]

One factor not mentioned, here, is the age of the occupant. Reflexes deteriorate over the years and a canoe with poor stability is a bit more of an inconvenience. I personally have not experienced any of this; it is what I hear from my friends.